Wednesday, March 7, 2012

THE JANSON COMMAND by Paul Garrison

International politics is a mess these days. But the instabilities and volatile nature of third world regimes has always supplied fuel for suspense writers like Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum. Clancy's The Sum of All Fears and Ludlum's The Bourne Identity were both made into movies. Which one was better in print? I'd have to say Bourne because Ludlum, more than Clancy, knows how to pace a story. He knows what to leave out. Which is not to say his new novel THE JANSON COMMAND by Paul Garrison is as good as its predecessor The Janson Directive by Ludlum (Garrison also wrote Sea Hunter.) But at least you aren't lectured to, and it is not so much a history lesson, with 900 characters and descriptive passages about every weapon ever developed. Reader is Scott Shepherd, who also did Private: #1 Suspect by James Patterson, among others. The plot has Paul Janson and his new partner trying to help reform and recondition field agents, but during a botched mission in Africa over oil and an evil dictator the truth comes out that corporate security is not exactly a clean operation. The world has changed since Ludlum's time, and although he was unique and cannot be duplicated exactly, this is a pretty good attempt, with plot twists and intrigue on target to evoke new times. Recommended.